The Mask of Destiny (14 page)

There was a stunned silence. Gerald could make out the words but they made no sense to him. He'd never heard of any such place. He tried to respond but the energy deserted him.

‘We don't know what you're talking about,' Sam said. He took a pace towards the woman but stopped mid-stride.

‘Not so close, Mr Valentine,' Charlotte said. She pulled a glass vial from the pouch on her belt. ‘If I drop this, your friend's life goes down the drain. I'm sure you don't want that on your conscience.' She glanced at her watch. ‘He still has five minutes or so. I mixed the batch myself. I studied chemistry at Cambridge, you see.'

‘Did you learn how to kill your relatives there as well?' Ruby said.

Charlotte let out the type of laugh you might hear at a polite cocktail party in a ritzy hotel. ‘Do you mean that old fool at the courthouse? He'd outlived his use. It was easy enough shooting a dart into him while he was talking to you, Gerald. Almost as easy as getting your DNA from the drinking straw in the cafeteria.'

‘You were the waitress!' Sam said.

‘You are the clever one, aren't you. Yes, I slummed it for a morning. Then it was a simple task of planting the evidence in your bedroom. And since your friend Constable Lethbridge had kindly told me where to find the ruby, my job was basically done. A phone call to the police to let them know where the blowgun was hidden and I had successfully eliminated a burdensome old man and framed you for the murder. Leaving me free to claim my birthright. A good day's work, I think.'

‘Lethbridge told you?' Gerald's voice was barely a whisper.

‘The antidote,' Ruby said. ‘
Please
.'

Charlotte stared at the tear-stained face before her, then at the wretched boy collapsed on the floor. ‘You know nothing of the Tower of the Winds?'

‘I'd do anything to save Gerald,' Ruby pleaded. ‘You have to believe me. I'd tell you if I could.'

Charlotte rolled the vial in her hand, then launched it across the room at Ruby. ‘Catch!' she said, and set off down the corridor at a run.

Ruby's eyes fixed on the glass tube as it sailed through the air. Gerald lifted his head to see it spinning slowly towards the floor. Ruby dived forward and thrust out her right hand. But she was too late. The vial clipped her thumb and she missed it. A cry fell from her lips.

Then Sam's hand slid underneath, and the fragile container plumped into his palm as if alighting on a cushion.

‘Quick!' Ruby called.

Sam lifted the vial to his eyes. Inside the tube rattled a yellow stick the size and shape of a fountain pen. ‘What do we do?' he asked.

Ruby took the vial and unscrewed the end. The yellow stick slid into her hand. She stared down at it, helpless. ‘I don't know,' she said. ‘I don't know.'

Gerald's vision had narrowed to a pinhole. His chest had turned to concrete; his breathing was almost non-existent. But his eyes were focused with gun-sight precision on the object in Ruby's hand. He'd only have one shot at this.

He harnessed his energy and lunged forward, snatching the stick. He shoved one end into his mouth and clamped his teeth around a rubber stopper to wrench it free, revealing the tip of a needle. Then, with the last of his strength, he drove the needle hard into his thigh.

The pain piercing deep into his leg was intense, but it was forgotten as the concrete around his lungs crumbled and sweet air flooded into his body. Gerald fell back against the wall, a sharp sigh of relief shooting the robber stopper from his teeth straight between Sam's eyes.

‘Hey!' Sam said, ducking too late. ‘Watch it.'

‘Gerald?' Ruby was hovering above him. ‘Are you all right?'

Gerald sucked in more air and his vision started to clear. He nodded.

‘How did you know to do that?' Sam said. He lifted the yellow stick from where it had tumbled from Gerald's hand. A three-centimetre-long needle extended from one end.

‘First aid at school.' Gerald concentrated on filling his lungs. ‘Allergies. People can go into shock. And those things set them right.'

He shunted himself upright. It was amazing how quickly the antidote was working. He could feel it filtering through his body, loosening his joints.

‘Can you believe she killed her own uncle?' Ruby said. ‘That's so vile.'

‘Yeah,' Sam said. ‘Killing your relatives. What a thought.' Ruby glanced sideways at him then lashed out with a flick to the back of his head.

‘What was that for?' he protested.

‘Just keeping you in your place,' Ruby said.

Gerald wiggled his fingers. Every movement reminded him just how good it was to be alive. ‘You know what I think?' he said. ‘I bet Green told her all about the golden rods and whatever treasure they lead to so she could track it down even if he went to jail. But she got greedy and, when it looked like Green might get off, she killed him to keep the treasure for herself.'

‘Sounds possible,' Sam said. ‘Interesting family.'

‘Are you okay to move, Gerald?' Ruby asked.

‘I think so,' he said. Sam and Ruby helped him to his feet and he steadied himself against the wall for a second. He looked down at the open casket on the floor and limped across to scoop up the ruby from the lid.

‘Did you notice what that woman had around her neck?' Gerald asked, staring at the gem in his palm.

‘No,' Ruby said. ‘I was too worried about you.'

Gerald stuffed the gem into his pocket. ‘A necklace,' he said. ‘A plain leather necklace.'

‘So?' Sam said.

‘There was a gold ring looped through it,' Gerald said. ‘I saw it when she was lifting the rod out of the casket. I think it had my family seal on it.'

Gerald, Ruby and Sam emerged through a crawlspace at the back of a small chapel. Light streamed through stained-glass windows in the stone walls and a shelf in front of the altar held dozens of flickering candles. They went through the main doors and found themselves on a narrow terrace above the cobbled street they had wandered along earlier.

‘I'm starving,' Sam said. ‘I could go some lunch.'

Gerald sat on the wall overlooking the street. He was still a little shaky. ‘Okay, how's this for a plan?' he said. ‘Let's go back to the hotel and get something to eat. Mr Fry should be there by now. Then we might as well call Inspector Parrott and let him know what's happened. If Charlotte is trying to find some Tower of the Winds that information might help him track her down.'

‘What about Inspector Jarvis?' Ruby said. ‘He's not going to believe Charlotte planted the blowgun in your bedroom.'

‘Then we'd better avoid Inspector Jarvis,' Gerald said. ‘Come on. I'm with Sam. I'm starving.'

They wound down a set of stairs carved from the ubiquitous grey granite of the island and squeezed onto the main walkway. The street was packed with tourists, jostling their way up the steep hill towards the abbey. Gerald put his head down and pushed against the flow. After struggling for fifty metres he stepped into a shop doorway. Ruby and Sam followed him.

A little further down the roadway, there was a commotion. Shouts rang out above the crowd. Then came three sharp blasts on a whistle.

Gerald moved onto the step of the shop entrance, trying to see what was going on.

‘Uh oh,' he said. ‘It's Mr Fry.'

Ruby craned her neck to see over the crowd. She pulled down on Gerald's shoulder, trying to inch taller. ‘What's happening?'

‘There are two French policemen down there. I think they're arresting Mr Fry.'

‘
What
?'

‘They're outside the hotel. Mr Fry's not looking too happy about it. He's arguing up a storm.'

‘The man from the hotel,' Ruby said. ‘He must have reported us.' She turned to Sam. ‘You and your talk about helicopters.'

‘Oh sure, blame me,' Sam said. ‘You're really going to help Mr Fry by doing that. Nice work, Ruby.'

‘What are you talking about?'

‘Can you two quit it?' Gerald said. ‘There's someone else down there, arguing with Fry.'

‘Who is it?' Sam asked.

‘It's Inspector Jarvis,' Gerald said.

A clearing had formed around the butler and the police. Gerald could see Jarvis prodding his finger into Mr Fry's chest. They were having a heated argument.

‘Fry's not backing down,' Gerald said. ‘He's giving it right back to Jarvis.' Gerald smiled to himself. ‘Good for you, Mr Fry.'

Ruby finally managed to step up beside Gerald and she poked her head above the crowd. ‘Look, Constable Lethbridge is down there, too.'

‘That's one thing in our favour, then,' Sam said. ‘What do we do? Go tell them about Charlotte?'

‘Jarvis doesn't look like he's in the mood to listen to stories about cat woman and poison darts,' Gerald said. ‘And we've just lost our transport out of here.'

‘So what now?' Ruby said. ‘Lie low for—'

A piercing whistle blast cut her off.

Gerald's eyes shot down the roadway. Inspector Jarvis was looking right at him, pointing a finger like a sniper's rifle. A burly French policeman was shoving through the tourists towards them.

‘He's seen us,' Gerald said. He grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and pushed her into the stream of people moving up the hill. ‘Quick!'

Sam fell in behind as they dashed in and out of tour groups, all the time moving higher and higher towards the abbey on the summit. The crowd started to slow and swell like water behind a dam.

‘There's a ticket office up here,' Gerald called back to the others. ‘If we can get in front of this group, the police will be jammed in tight.'

Sam edged ahead of Gerald, elbowing his way through the crush. ‘Too easy,' he said. ‘Follow me.' He put his head down and shoved between the people in front of him. ‘Pardon me!' he yelled. ‘Lady with a baby! Coming through.'

The crowd parted far enough for them to weave through to the front of the ticket queue. ‘One day someone's going to notice there's no baby,' Ruby said. ‘Three tickets please, uh—
trois billets, s'il vous plaît
.'

Gerald paid for the tickets and they dived through the lower entry to the abbey compound. Inside, the crowd was thinner. Gerald, Ruby and Sam were in an outer courtyard, at the bottom of a complex of grey stone walls and pathways leading up to the spired peak of the medieval abbey far above.

‘Which way?' Ruby asked.

Gerald scanned their surroundings. There wasn't much option.

‘The only way is up,' he said.

They dashed up a steep flight of stairs hemmed between stone walls. High above, a wooden walkway spanned the narrow gap to link the two buildings.

‘This place is awesome,' Sam puffed as he climbed the stairs. ‘All we need now is the Three Musketeers and a sword fight.'

Gerald paused to catch his breath. Up ahead he saw two monks, deep in conversation as they descended the stairs towards them. They wore long blue cloaks that brushed the tops of their sandalled feet and were held at the waist by a knotted cord, from which swung a large metal key. The shorter of the two monks stopped his descent and fumbled for the key at his side. Still chatting to his companion, he unlocked a wooden door set into one of the walls. He pushed the door ajar, then continued with his companion down the steps.

The shrill police whistle sounded from the entrance hall below. Gerald shot a glance down the stairs.

‘We better hurry,' he said.

As they passed the monks, the shorter one gave Gerald a smile and, with a tilt of his head, indicated the open door. Gerald stumbled to a halt. Had the monk just tipped them off to a possible hiding place?

A wink from the other monk gave Gerald his answer.

‘Quick,' he said to Sam and Ruby. ‘In here.'

Gerald shouldered the heavy oak door and bundled through the opening, straight over the edge of a narrow landing. It was a two-metre drop to the wooden floor. He hit it and rolled onto his back just in time to see Ruby, spread-eagled in mid-air, plummeting down to land square on top of him.

The impact squeezed Gerald's ribs like a piano accordion. He just managed to re-inflate his chest when Sam arrived, plunging down to sandwich Ruby between them.

Under the combined weight of the Valentine twins, Gerald let out a moan and his head flopped back onto the floorboards. ‘They really need a railing on that top step,' he said.

They had fallen into a cellar. A dozen stairs ran down the wall from the doorway. Sam scrambled up the stairs to push the door closed.

Through a squat window at street level, they could see the feet of passersby outside. Within a minute, several sets of police boots clattered past.

‘The police are going to be crawling all over this place,' Sam said. ‘I guess we're stuck in here for a while.'

Ruby was still lying on top of Gerald. Their noses were centimetres apart, and for a second they just looked at each other.